Screw U: The GOP’s War on College Students

The Republican platform is out to destroy higher education, and take down students in the process.
...  Read more

Paul Krugman: Austerity Is 'Killing the World Economy'

"In a depressed, deflationary economy conventional fiscal prudence is dangerous folly," he wrote.
...  Read more

The GOP's Vicious Religious Warfare: The Arms Race for Extremists' Hearts and Minds

Trump, Cruz, Huckabee, and  Carson are engaging in a heated campaign to get the support of the religious right.
...  Read more

Former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann Says Bombing Iran Would Be An Act Of Peace (VIDEO)

Bachmann doesn't seem to understand the definitions of the words "peace" and "war." Read more

A Study of the 1.5 Million American Households With Practically No Income at All

When Americans talk about the failings of the country's economy, the focus is usually on inequality--the uneven distribution of prosperity among the p...  Read more

‘Religious Freedom’ Christian Hypocrites CHEER LOUDLY When City Forbids Mosque For Muslims (VIDEO)

This destroys the Kim Davis "religious freedom" argument. Watch a huge crowd of Christians CHEER LOUDLY when Muslims are denied ... Read more

Freethought Today -- September 2015 issue

The September issue of Freethought Today is now ready for your reading pleasure.  Included are essays from the winners of the William J. Schulz High School Essay Contest on the topics of either "Why I'm Good Without God" or "Atheist/Nonbeliever of color".
http://ffrf.org/images/uploads/fttoday/2015/FT_September_2015_Web.pdf

Seth Takes on English-Only Politicians in Solamente Inglés - Late Night with Seth Meyers

https://youtu.be/07lACeGMgR4

Living in extreme poverty: A family's daily battle

Jennifer London meets a family of five in Los Angeles who live in a one bedroom apartment as they struggle to survive.
https://youtu.be/IVKj-TC5S1s

New diabetes research garners staggering numbers Americans

A new study reveals that half of Americans are at diabetic risk and that a vast number of people don't know they have it.
https://youtu.be/yBAvIjGQn3I

Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rule: Migrant Headache (HBO)

In his editorial New Rule, Bill Maher highlights America’s propensity for xenophobia, while railing against Australians for taking over his country.
https://youtu.be/zF_1hVYGaJw

Real Time with Bill Maher: Monologue – September 11, 2015 (HBO)

Bill Maher’s monologue from Friday, September 11, 2015.
https://youtu.be/3XorMeVgEqQ

Real Time with Bill Maher: Is Trump the Manchurian Candidate?

Bill Maher and panelists Linda Chavez, Salman Rushdie, Michael Moynihan and Wendell Pierce discuss Donald Trump's campaign and the conspiracy theories surrounding it.
https://youtu.be/SCFS3e2_hTI

Real Time with Bill Maher: Planned Parenthood – August 28, 2015 (HBO)

Bill Maher and his guests – Wendy Davis, Robert Costa and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher – discuss reproductive rights and the fight over Planned Parenthood in this clip from August 28, 2015
https://youtu.be/b0UYG5pwz4g

Real Time with Bill Maher: Overtime – September 11, 2015 (HBO)

Bill Maher and his guests – Alexandra Pelosi, Wendell Pierce, Salman Rushdie, Linda Chavez and Michael Moynihan – answer viewer questions after the show.
https://youtu.be/hYF3atS_L5A

Real Time with Bill Maher: Kim Davis Controversy – Sept. 11, 2015 (HBO)

Bill Maher and panelists Salman Rushdie, Linda Chavez and Michael Moynihan dicuss the controversy surrounding Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and her refusal to issue marriage certificates to same-sex couples.
https://youtu.be/EmMyrt_Vbew

Real Time with Bill Maher: The New National Geographic (HBO)

This week it was announced that Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox will be taking over National Geographic and turning it into a for-profit venture for the first time in the magazine’s 127-year history. They claim that the publication will remain editorially independent, but based on these new cover stories, we’re not so sure…
https://youtu.be/I4ZcJ-nkkpM

No, This Is Not The Nice, Normal Huckabee Trying To Seem Nasty For Effect

Mike Huckabee has said a lot of extreme things recently, in what seems like an attempt to change his nice-guy image, but this is really just the old H...  Read more

New Study Suggests Connections Between Homophobia And Mental Disorders

It might be homophobia, not homosexuality, that is indicative of mental disorders.  ... Read more

Lawmaker Rants Against Accepting Refugees: ‘They Only Want The Free Stuff From America’

The lawmaker argued that Syrian refugees "want to live under Sharia law" and accused them of planning "an invasion" to ... Read more

Court Rules Pesticide That’s Been Found To Harm Bees Is No Longer Approved In The U.S.

The court found that the EPA shouldn't have signed off on Dow AgroSciences' sulfoxaflor, which is sold under the brand names ... Read more

Gov. Jerry Brown Sent Ben Carson A Flash Drive To Cure His Climate Denial

"Please use your considerable intelligence to review this material," a letter accompanying the flash drive read. "Climate ... Read more

How Child Care Is Becoming A Crisis In America

The cost of child care is increasing squeezing middle class families and has become unaffordable for many low-income families. ... Read more

Leader Of Right-Wing Zionist Group: 'Trump Is Making Many Of Us Very Nervous'

The head of a group that co-sponsored Wednesday's anti-Iran deal rally in Washington, D.C. wasn't happy to hear that Republican presidential frontrunn... Read more

Kim Davis Ask Appeals Court To Halt Marriages In Her County

Kim Davis -- the Kentucky clerk who stopped issuing all marriage licenses after the Supreme Court gay marriage ruling -- is taking another stab at sto... Read more

A Fascinating Look at the Democratic Primary Electorate

As I've mentioned a few times, we've gotten into the survey business, both of the public at large but especially of our own audience, which is a good ... Read more

Week In The News: Iran Deal Votes, Refugee Surge, Russia In Syria (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

It’s been messy and it’s been fought, but the president essentially has his Iran nuclear deal this week. Victory in the headlines. And now, the test of time. In Europe, more refugees, more migrants, and more struggle. In Kentucky, Kim Davis is out of jail. Greeted and celebrated by Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz. Keeping God in the news cycle. Hillary Clinton says “sorry” for her email ways. Bernie Sanders has caught her in the Iowa polls. Joe Biden sounds doubtful on a run with Colbert. Jeb Bush talks taxes. And its 9.11 again. This hour On Point, our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines. / Tom Ashbrook
Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/09/11/iran-deal-migrant-crisis-hillary-clinton-apologies

Friday News Roundup – Domestic (Diane Rehm Show, 2015-09-11)

Senate Democrats hand President Barack Obama a foreign policy victory, blocking a GOP resolution to reject the Iran nuclear agreement, but House Republicans continue to fight the deal. The likelihood of a government shutdown becomes more real. The Justice Department pledges to get tough on white-collar criminals. CNN sets its lineup for next week’s Republican presidential debate. Police officers charged in the Freddie Gray case will be tried in Baltimore. And America marks 14 years since the Sept. 11 attacks. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week’s top national news stories.
Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-09-11/friday-news-roundup-domestic

Friday News Roundup – International (Diane Rehm Show, 2015-09-11)

President Barack Obama directs his administration to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees. The European Union considers a plan to settle 160,000 asylum seekers, on the one-year anniversary of the creation of the international coalition to fight the Islamic State. Meanwhile, Russia defends the presence of military advisers in Syria. China cracks down on investment firms. And a report criticizes a Mexican government’s investigation of 43 missing students. A panel of journalists joins guest host Susan Page for analysis of the week’s top international news stories.
Interview:
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-09-11/friday-news-roundup-international

Vice President Joe Biden Interview (Stephen Colbert, 2015--9-10)

Interview:
https://youtu.be/opVaEC_WxWs

https://youtu.be/XwmMPytjrK4

You'll Never Believe Why Donald Trump Thinks Obama "Failed" on the Iran Deal

Donald Trump says that the Obama Administration failed on the Iran deal and says they will not “Read Art of the Deal”...
https://youtu.be/KnZt0HZKyE8

Ray Comfort To Use Kim Davis' Return To Work To Promote His Own Anti-Gay Movie

Ray Comfort tells Bryan Fischer that he intends to be on hand when Kim Davis returns to work in order to promote his anti-gay film, "Audacity."
https://youtu.be/P-N6WwmfvUo

Sign language device invention gaining attention in India

Four engineering college graduates created a prototype to recognize and translate sign language.
https://youtu.be/_nz8C5YRC6o

Fox News: Pushing War with Iran For Almost a Decade • BRAVE NEW FILMS

In 2007 a video from Brave New Films showed how Fox News was feverishly pushing war with Iran. And they're still doing it.
https://youtu.be/l2kqVkdb-KQ

Top U.S. and World News Headlines for Friday, September 11 (Democracy Now!)

https://youtu.be/0N_VAVgzmqM

PHILOSOPHY - The Good Life: Kant [HD]

Chris Surprenant (University of New Orleans) discusses the account of human well-being and the good life presented by Immanuel Kant in the his moral, political, and religious writings. He explains why Kant believes that the highest good for a human being is the conjunction of happiness and complete virtue and how it is possible for an individual to attain these two things at the same time.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/F6UQLiHB0k0

Why Arkansas Might End Up With A Statue Of Satan On Its Capitol Grounds

[The Satanic Temple] is prepared to pursue legal options if their application is rejected or ignored...

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/09/10/3700304/satan-statue-arkansas/

Creationists Are Already in Denial About the Newly Discovered Species Homo Naledi

… we can say with confidence that this discovery changes nothing about our understanding of human history.
…
God told us He created two humans as well as all the kinds of land animals — and that includes apes — on the same day. That means that there could be no evolution involved. Whatever species these bones represent… we know that they cannot be any sort of intermediate between apes and humans. The only way to find an ape-man — or a “bridge” between apes and humans — is to misinterpret fossils of either an ape or a human as something in between. But all humans — even varieties of humans that we no longer have with us — were all descended from the first two people God made.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2015/09/11/creationists-are-already-in-denial-about-the-newly-discovered-species-homo-naledi/

News Flash: First-Trimester Abortions Aren’t Heart Surgery

"The onslaught of new abortion restrictions has been so successful, so strategically designed, and so well coordinated," Redden writes, that the fight for abortion access "in many places has essentially been lost."
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/09/09/abortion_isn_t_heart_surgery_but_new_regulations_force_clinics_to_pretend.html

2015 NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH (NPM): Make your emergency plan today.

September is National Preparedness Month.  This year we are asking you to take action now – make a plan with your community, your family, and for your pets.  Plan how to stay safe and communicate during the disasters that can affect your community. We ask everyone to participate in America’s PrepareAthon! and the national day of action, National PrepareAthon! Day, which culminates National Preparedness Month on September 30.

http://www.ready.gov/september

The Documentary Donald Trump Didn't Want You To See

Via Raw Story: In 1988, business mogul Leonard Stern commissioned a television documentary to be made about Donald Trump, but the film was never aire... Read more
https://youtu.be/5UO3nn7awUk

How has Israel's Supreme Court defended the occupation?

Presented as a pillar of the country's "democracy", Israel's Supreme Court has upheld many policies of the occupation.  Read more

Bobby Jindal Says His State’s Struggling Budget Is A Model For The Country

Bobby Jindal balanced his state's budget with one-time payments from the federal government that are about to disappear. ... Read more

I Finally Understand Trump's Appeal After Going To His Iran Rally

Speaking at the Stop the Iran Deal Rally with the U.S. Capitol as his backdrop, Donald Trump at first made the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran se... Read more

Huckabee: Dred Scott Decision 'Remains To This Day The Law Of The Land' (AUDIO)

Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court decision that upheld slavery "remain... Read more

Murkowski Becomes First GOP Senator To Co-Sponsor Dem Voting Rights Act Bill

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) became the first Republican senator to sign on to Senate Democrats' legislation to restore a piece of the Voting Rights Act... Read more

Rick Santorum Compares Kim Davis To MLK For Jail Stint (AUDIO)

During an radio appearance Thursday, presidential candidate and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) compared Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to civil rig... Read more

Sikh Man Beaten Before Anniversary Of 9/11: 'Go Back To Your Country, Bin Laden!'

A Sikh man was beaten in a roadside attack on Tuesday night in suburban Chicago by an assailant who called him a "terrorist," television WMAQ reported... Read more

Bernie Sanders Edges Past Hillary Clinton In Poll Of Iowa Dems

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is now leading former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a new poll of likely Democratic Iowa caucus participants. Read... Read more

R.E.M. Singer Hits Trump, Cruz For Using His Song: 'Go F*ck Yourselves'

The lead singer of R.E.M. was not pleased that Donald Trump walked onto the stage at his Wednesday rally against the Iran deal to the band's song, "It... Read more

How Donald Trump Threatens To Blow Up Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reform

A long-awaited, hard-fought criminal justice reform push is coming to Washington this fall, with lawmakers of both parties making progress on legislat... Read more

Oath Keepers On Their Way To 'Protect' KY Clerk Kim Davis From US Marshals

The Oath Keepers -- the armed, anti-government vigilante group known for popping up at the Ferguson protests and elsewhere -- has told Kim Davis' lega... Read more

Ancient burial chamber raises deep questions about early human relatives

Scientists have found evidence that human relatives perhaps 2 million years old used a burial chamber for the dead – a practice thought to be only 350... Read more

Is Masturbation Good For You?

https://youtu.be/GU3JqoUDkjA

Why Are You Still Catholic?

A study came out recently all about what Catholics believe compared to what all Americans believe.
I just want to mention two issues in particular.
First is marriage equality. 55% of all Americans said they support gay or lesbian couples getting married.
Now, this is something forbidden by the Church. The Catechism even says "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." The supposedly-great Pope Francis believes that.
And yet the study showed that 60% of Catholics support gay marriage. 60!

The second issue is abortion. 53% of all Americans said it should be legal in all or most cases.

The Catholic Church calls it a "grave offense." It's completely anti-abortion.
But guess what? 51% of Catholics said they support legal abortion in most or all situations.
What the hell?
And how many Catholics out there do you think believe that a consecrated communion wafer is literally a piece of Jesus's body? Or that the Pope knows best? Or that women should never be priests?
So here's my question for those of you out there who call yourselves Catholic but disagree with so many of the Church's positions: Why?!
Okay, maybe I can try to answer that.

Maybe you don't think the Church's positions on these issues are dealbreaks.
Maybe you just like the tradition and ritual of Mass and you don't care what the Church has to say about social issues.
Maybe you have pressure from your family to remain Catholic.

Maybe you'd like to see the Church change its positions on these issues, and you figure you have a better chance of making that happen if you’re still a part of it.
Maybe you're Catholic in name only and you couldn't tell us the Pope’s name if your life depended on it.
Maybe a Catholic school just happens to be the best one in your area so you were willing to do the bare minimum to join the Church.
But here's my plea to you: The Catholic Church is a destructive organization.

For all the good it does in some situations -- and there are definitely some amazing priests and nuns out there -- the Church makes the world a worse place by standing in the way of progress.
If you care about women's rights and LGBT rights, then the best thing you could do is get out of the Church. Stop calling yourself a Catholic and supporting an organization that hurts progress on these issues.

By coming up with shitty reasons to stay in a bigoted club, you're perpetuating the problem.

It’s bad enough that Catholics believe saying a few Hail Marys will absolve your sins… but why give money to a group that fires great teachers in Catholic schools for the “sin” of getting married to the wrong kind of partner? (That happens a lot.)
And I haven't even mentioned all the sexual abuse scandals yet.
Here's the problem with surveys like the one I mentioned earlier. They ask people if they're Catholic and run with it.

If they limited Catholics to people who actually agreed with the Church's beliefs, those numbers would be decimated.
What was also interesting in that survey is how many people thought Pope Francis supported gay marriage. Of the Catholics who supported marriage equality, nearly half of them said "the Pope agrees with me!"
He doesn't.

So a lot of Catholics don't even know what their Church teaches on these issues. And yet they keep the label.

https://youtu.be/dblERAfS1HI

'NeuroTribes' Examines The History — And Myths — Of The Autism Spectrum (Terry Gross, Fresh Air)

In 1938, an Austrian pediatrician named Hans Asperger gave the first public talk on autism in history. Asperger was speaking to an audience of Nazis, and he feared that his patients — children who fell onto what we now call the autism spectrum — were in danger of being sent to Nazi extermination camps...
Interview:
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/09/02/436742377/neurotribes-examines-the-history-and-myths-of-the-autism-spectrum

Going After The Arctic (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

President Obama, out on a glacier in Alaska today with wilderness survivalist Bear Grylls. A melting glacier. To make the point that we’ve got a hot planet to worry about. The heat goes north of Alaska, too. All the way to the North Pole. The Arctic is being transformed by climate change. Global warming. The polar ice cap is melting away, melting back. For environmentalists, that’s a five-alarm fire bell. For would-be Arctic developers, that’s an opportunity. To fish, to mine, to drill, to sail. This hour On Point: going after the Arctic. /Tom Ashbrook
Interview:
https://onpoint.wbur.org/2015/09/01/competition-for-resources-in-the-arctic

Congress holds Planned Parenthood hearing, doesn’t invite Planned Parenthood to testify

...Instead, House Republicans invited the following guests:

• James Bopp, who is general counsel to the National Right to Life
• Gianna Jessen, an anti-abortion advocate who was born after a failed abortion attempt in 1977
• Melissa Ohden, also an anti-abortion advocate born after a failed abortion attempt

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/9/9292877/planned-parenthood-hearing-congress

Ongoing child sex abuse in Catholic church casts shadow on pope's US visit

The ‘people’s pope’ has made moves to address the abuse problem, but for people who have been involved with cases in local US dioceses it’s not enough.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/10/pope-francis-us-visit-catholic-sex-abuse

All Scientists Should Be Militant Atheists

...imagine an Islamic-fundamentalist county clerk who would not let unmarried men and women enter the courthouse together, or grant marriage licenses to unveiled women. For Rand Paul, what separates these cases from Kim Davis’s? The biggest difference, I suspect, is that Senator Paul agrees with Kim Davis’s religious views but disagrees with those of the hypothetical Islamic fundamentalist...
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/all-scientists-should-be-militant-atheists

Christians urge parents to save their kids from ‘indoctrination’ with an ‘exodus’ from public schools

Christians are urging Christian parents to take their children out of public schools because Common Core, a new curriculum intended to standardize what children learn nationwide, is “progressive” brainwashing...
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/christians-urge-parents-to-save-their-kids-from-indoctrination-with-an-exodus-from-public-schools/

As Reach of Catholic Hospitals Grows, So Does Risk to Patient Reproductive Health Care

By the close of 2011, one in nine hospital beds in this country existed in a Catholic or Catholic-sponsored health-care facility. If viewed together as one corporate entity, the ten largest Catholic-sponsored health systems of hospitals and clinics would constitute the largest in the country. And these hospitals are routinely denying medical care to women, citing Catholic doctrine as justification...
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/09/08/reach-catholic-hospitals-grows-risk-patient-reproductive-health-care/

There are more atheists and agnostics entering Harvard than Protestants and Catholics

...Pew’s survey suggested a decline in Christianity in the U.S., especially among millennials, though Harvard’s freshman still don’t appear to reflect the rest of millennials in the U.S...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/09/09/there-are-more-atheists-and-agnostics-entering-harvard-than-protestants-and-catholics/

Creation Museum Again Denied Membership In San Diego Museum Council

"We didn’t get the majority of votes, which to me confirms the underlying cause which we suspected all along, which is prejudice against creation as an explanation for origins," Cantor said.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/sep/08/creation-museum-again-denied-membership-san-diego-/

Arkansas to consider placing Satanic Temple’s ‘Baphomet’ statue on Capitol grounds

...The (Satanic Temple] group also cites the historical nature of its [Baphomet] monument, which it says is “a memorial to the various historical witch hunts, and homage to the persecuted free-thinkers and ‘heretics’ who helped inform American secular jurisprudence.”
http://cnmnewz.com/arkansas-to-consider-placing-satanic-temples-baphomet-statue-on-capitol-grounds/

Genetically modified embryos 'essential' for science, experts say

"We believe that while this technology has tremendous value to basic research and enormous potential... it is not sufficiently developed to consider human genome editing for clinical reproductive purposes at this time," they said in a statement.
http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/09/10/us-health-genes-editing-idINKCN0RA1UU20150910

New species of human relative, Homo naledi, found in underground graveyard in Cradle of Humankind in South Africa

The fossilised bones of 15 bodies from a previously unknown human species have been unearthed from the depths of an underground graveyard, in a discovery scientists say could change the history of mankind...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-10/new-species-of-human-relative-found-in-underground-graveyard/6765466

Richard Dawkins Conversation with Neil deGrasse Tyson at Hayden Planetarium

https://youtu.be/4z4gISBuDVU

"The Arguments for God's Existence and Why They Suck" (JT Eberhard- 2015 Gateway to Reason)

http://youtu.be/BegaokiNqrc

Fewer Than 1 in 5 Americans Are Making This Smart Money Move

Saving for retirement might appear to be a pretty straightforward process that involves moving from Point A to B. But in most instances, life has its way of throwing twists and turns at consumers, resulting in fewer Americans being prepared for retirement t...

http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2015/08/30/fewer-than-1-in-5-americans-are-making-this-smart.aspx

Evangelicals need to stop giving the rest of us Christians a bad name (Tracey M Lewis-Giggetts)

Ever since Jesus himself announced that his followers should be "salt and light" (think: flavor and enlightenment) in the world and the apostle Paul held his own in debates with first century intellectuals and Greek philosophers, the Christian church has always held a mandate to positively influe...
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/30/evangelicals-give-christianity-a-bad-name

Ted Cruz To David Gregory: Nazis? What Nazis?

"Americans were more likely to give negative than positive reviews to Ted Cruz's quasi-filibuster earlier this week, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll, which also showed huge support among Republicans for the speech and boosted name recognition for Cruz.

Overall, the poll found that Americans were more likely to call Cruz's speech an unnecessary political stunt than a good way of making an important point, by a 41 percent to 32 percent plurality."
http://youtu.be/YDmpNXSyj6Q

Massachusetts Cop Lies About Being Attacked, Sparks City-Wide Manhunt

How does this fit into the "war on cops" narrative?  ... Read more

No, Rand Paul. Jobs Will Not Fix The Heroin Epidemic.

Paul said people with jobs "don't have time to do heroin."  ... Read more